Whether it’s Mackinac (French) or Mackinaw (English) it is pronounced mac-in-no and it means turtle. Don’t know why as there are no turtles this far north. We spent four very lovely days on the island. Wind kept the boaters, at least the saner boaters, in port for four days and on the fifth day at sunup 15 boats all evacuated at the same time, and what a sight that was, with many others to follow later in the morning to spread out across Lake Michigan moving toward their next Loop destination. Mackinac Island was the most wonderful place to have to hold up.
I really, really love this part of the country, so much so that the current thought is leaving the boat up here for a couple of winters and becoming “accidental snowbirds” and spending the next couple of summers on the boat floating around the Great Lakes in the US and Canada before returning to Florida to eventually sell her. There is just so much to see and do, so much beauty, and so many really lovely people along the way. Well, that’s the plan for now…we’ll see.
If anyone is really thinking of joining us, this is the place to do it! I am serious, this is the place!
Mackinac Island, once Fort Mackinac, then turned National Park (the second National Park in the nation behind Yellowstone) when the fort closed, and eventually turned over to the state of Michigan as a State Park. There are no automobiles allowed on the island so everything is manged by horse and wagon. It’s truly wonderful to hear the clip clop of the horses as the delivery carts, carriage rides and taxis go around town. We took our friends with us on a horse drawn tour of the island that went into the unseen and “real living” parts of the island. It was so very nice and quiet in the neighborhood where the locals all live. I could definitely do that. But it does get cold in the winter and the island is shut down, except for Doud’s Market, the oldest grocery store in the nation – yes, we googled that and it seems as though it is true. It has been there since the early 1800’s and is still owned by the original Doud family. They do still get supplies delivered on the island in the winter, as long as the ferries can get through the ice across the channel.
The island is supported by multiple ferries that come from Mackinaw City and St. Ignace so hundreds of day visitors hit the island every day and even thousands on weekends. But by the time the sun sets, the island quiets down and settles into a peaceful calm.
Most of the original old houses, which are all very well kept up, have been turned into historic little inns and bed and breakfast places. As an anniversary surprise, Michael set up a night at one of the historic hotels in town. What a very lovely surprise! It was my very first night sleeping off the boat since January and yes, I still got up to check the anchor! Awww, this is the kind of thing that makes him so very special and just keeps my heart warm and fuzzy! Love him!!!
Pam and Vince are the couple we met way back in April at Sunbury Crab Company Marina in Midway Georgia. They are the “ourselves” couple from that earlier blog who also sold out of California, moved to Florida and bought a big boat to do the Loop and we figured out together why autopilot shut down at certain time in the route. It was so wonderful to meet up with them again. They did Canada and we did the Western Erie Canal and this part of Michigan is where the two pathways converge. They too will be coming back to Michigan next season and we will meet up again then.
The largest structure and the largest employer on the Island is the Grand Hotel. If anyone ever saw Somewhere in Time in the 1970’s, which happens to be my favorite movie, it was filmed here at the Grand Hotel on the Island.
The Grand Hotel has the longest covered porch in the world. Amazingly, the whole hotel was built in just 93 days. Now days you can’t even get anyone to return a call in 93 days, let alone start or even finish a project in that time. Remind me sometime and I will tell you the story of the extra 3 days, although I’m sure some of you can easily guess. There were 11 of us that attended Vince’s birthday brunch in the Grand Banquet room one day. OMG! The food was amazing. The largest selection of fresh seafood I have ever seen in one place at one time! What a graceful and glorious queen the Grand Hotel is.
The winds died down just long enough for us to head out of Mackinac Island Marina, at sunup, and head under the Mackinaw Bridge into Lake Michigan and down to the ring finger side of the “mitten” where we are staying over the Labor Day holiday weekend. We are just 20 days shy of the end of this leg of the adventure and we put the boat up for 8 months.
The sun as it rose that morning.
We have a few more days of the adventure to document, so keep checking in. Most of you we will be seeing very soon over the rest of the year. Love to all, Gina and Mike
